A tech expert has warned that social media will soon be “full of AI bots” which will create a “zombie internet”.
Olivia DeRamus, known as the ‘Elle Woods of tech’, posed the chilling prediction as fellow gurus have banded together to share their grave concerns about the boom in AI and its exceeding advancement.
The founder of Communia, a social media platform for women, feels that social media in particular is losing its ‘social’ aspect as a surge of fakeness is threatening to impede on human connection.
READ MORE: Tech expert says we must ‘act now’ against AI as ‘deepfakes make anyone target’
Check out the latest Exclusives from Daily Star
And she predicts that brainless bots will soon overwhelm social media as we know it.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star, Olivia warned: “People don’t realise how many fake accounts there are, let alone content, on the internet.
(Image: Olivia DeRamus)
“A national digital security expert once told me about half of social media accounts are fake. A 2023 study in Ireland showed that almost 1/3 of adults have fake social accounts.
“Fakeness on today’s mainstream social media platforms is nothing new, but the massive increase in casual AI generated content is certainly intensifying an issue that was already starting to come to a boil.
“Authenticity is rare on today’s internet, despite the millions of people who hope to use these very platforms to find it.”
Although many people seek socialisation through their screens, Olivia feels this will be made redundant in the near future as AI content surges onto every platform.
From the deepfake Pope in a stylish puffer jacket to an AI model pageant being held to celebrate and reward some of the most ‘beautiful’ computer generated forms, reality is becoming more sparse on the platforms where people can communicate across the globe.
Earlier this year, Jason Koebler of tech news site, 404 Media, penned the term “zombie internet” in reference to the AI “slop” being produced on social media, reports The Guardian.
He noted: “A mix of bots, humans and accounts that were once humans but aren’t any more mix together to form a disastrous website where there is little social connection at all.”
Olivia fears the same, and shared that there is no going back once the “zombie internet” of brainless bots consumes all that is human and social.
The Communia founder shared: “I agree with this assessment about the oncoming zombie internet, and unfortunately there will be no deleting it once it happens.
“As the internet gets dumber, people are becoming more discerning and more disillusioned.
“AI could be a great tool in gathering real people together and facilitating better experiences, but that’s not the direction today’s key tech platforms are taking.
“In that way, it looks like these companies are creating their own demise.
(Image: Olivia DeRamus)
“That’s a shame, but new platforms who see the need for human centred and meaningful connection, like Communia, are emerging and will likely continue to rise as long as we continue to pursue a different path.
“The traditional motto in tech has been ‘move fast and break things’ under the misguided idea that you can delete the problems you create. That’s just not true.
“Once you post something, it’s up forever, once you code something poorly, it’s a mess to untangle.”
Olivia now believes that the onus is on the big tech firms – like Meta and Google – to tackle the place AI has on their platforms.
Though, she is optimistic about the future of the digital world and hopes that her platform Communia can be a part of that.
Although she is not anti-AI, she is against how AI is currently being pushed without “mindful implementation.”
(Image: Olivia DeRamus)
She concluded: “I am optimistic though that we can create a better digital world, but we might have to start from scratch to do it.
“Every platform, from Meta to Google, is rushing to implement AI features in their haste to win the ‘AI innovation wars’.
“This is happening alongside issues like misinformation tech firms were already struggling to appropriately address.
“Can their new AI recommendation tools really decipher between AI generated content and content created by humans? Or whether content with the most likes they’ll then recommend is popular because of bot activity?
“I’m doubtful, and it seems likely that the fresh tools looking to dominate our feeds could just maximize existing problems. I’m not anti AI, I’m anti AI without mindful implementation.
“Ultimately, I don’t think big tech platforms are likely to robustly address these issues as long as they are generating revenue from what’s currently in place.”